Free Seas
The Free Seas are the bodies of water surrounding the Delkish Sefenlands and the southeastern Coldlands, including: the Great Sea of Crahia, the Skirt Strait, the Boiling Strait sea, the Sea of Selanese Rebellion, the Muddy Sea, the Sea of the Free, Revolutionary's Sea, Rebell's Rills, Runaway's Rills, Erzgrave, Slaveless Strait, Liberty Bay, and Independence Strait. These bodies of water are considered holy in several faiths: the Faith o' Nine, the Faith of Anasia, the Faith of Iksas, the Faith of the Four Gods of Nature, and the Faith of the Mother Sphinx. It is believed by all of these faiths that the world was first created here. The following is an excerpt from the Theopathologos, a canonical holy book of the Faith of Iksas written by Parthaginian sternson Nico Yvo Kaegliosthrom: "And there, in MARVM LIBRVM ("Free Seas") '''She Who is Without' (Iksas, usually abbreviated SW) pulled down from her Heavenly Throne a grand curtain of clouds, then a grand curtain of smoke, then a grand curtains of stars, then a grand curtain of starlight and the night. She bound them all together, and how great and powerful She is, for these curtains were of a size with kingdoms and empires. 'This grand curtain shall be called the Firmament' she exclaimed to Her fogmen Ystrukiskar, Eronoppolosoridronn, and Her most favored son Tasapalatasar. 'Take the Firmament out as far as ye can' she commanded. They her sons took each of them one corner of the Firmament and fled to the farthest reaches of sky, which is the domain of the Goddess. And this task took them 10 000 years, but to Her it was a paltry amount of time. For Her 10 000 years are as one second, and one second is as 10 000 years. She willed up Her own final corner of the Firmament, and moved to its center. She bellowed out 'and now ye shall hold these corners till I command They Shall Fall.' In the center She pulled from the sky the whole of the Earth. Sand and rock, limestone and granite, metal and magma. And from where She stood sprang forth MARVM PRIMVM ("First Seas"), and then the whole of the Earth was covered in the waters of Her womb. And She reached down and pulled out Her heel from the water, and there She washed Her feet. And the Earth that fell back down floated upon the water. Lo and behold that SW had created the whole of the Earth from the dirt upon Her feet."'' Similar stories appear in all these religions. The most different story is that of the Far West, which maintains that Bedenne created the continents in this order: the Delklands, the Ayelands, Doronkonlenn, and then Farrolenn. The faithful hold that the continents were created when Bedenne ripped them up from the endless universal sea of creation, the Aether. The Free Seas are a splendor of nature, full of beautiful beaches, breathtaking rock faces, jungle inlets, and generally peaceful weather. There have been exceptions, however. Shortly after Billow's Rebellion, Billow the Slave led hundreds of thousands of slaves through the bodies of water during the worst Wet Season and Warm Season in centuries. A storm known only as the Freak Storm of the Free Seas ended the lives of tens of thousands of ex-slaves, who died seeking freedom. These people were considered martyrs, and the long and difficult journey a challenge to be risen to. The Freak Storm may have been an anomalous and antagonistic entity. Its patterns were extremely unusual once it reached the Free Seas, where it was expected to fizzle out. Instead it became a massive hurricane that looped through the Great Sea, tore through the Trunk of Crahia and even the Crow, and once again killed thousands more upon its second trip through the Free Seas. Category:Seas Category:Geography Category:History Category:Faith Category:Mythology